Thalia's Goodbye
by prplemyth
Summary: Thalia and Luke's final battle, and Thalia relives moments from their past. Song: My Goodbye by Automatic Loveletter.


**A/N: I love Automatic Loveletter, and I thought this song sort of described the Thalia/Luke situation.**

**And I consider Juliet Simms to be the same kind of badass as Thalia. So I thought it might work.**

**Hope you like it!**

_You've got me where you want me  
Falling on the ground_

My battle against Luke was not just physical – emotions came to play as well. Half of me wanted to push him as far off of the cliff as I could, wanted to see him spiraling down into the rock below us.

The other half, the louder half, wanted to run up to him, hug him like it was the same as before.

But I shook my head – that Luke was gone, and had been gone for ages.

He was no longer the boy I loved as a friend and sometimes even more.

He was my own personal hell.

_I hold you in the highest place,  
So I'm getting out_

I knew I was walking towards my possible death, but I had been in this position before. But, back then, Luke was on my side.

I thought back to the days when Luke was my hero, sometimes acting like an older brother towards Annabeth and me, and other times, just towards me, there was something else.

We were twelve and fourteen, kids, but it was different.

But we weren't those two scared little kids anymore. We were individually more than that, and together, so much less. Luke had let his fear consume him.

I used to think of him as the one person who could make a difference, who would make everything and anything happen, just by trying hard enough.

Now it seems he gave up on the good and changed for the worse.

I had to let go of the Luke I used to care for – push him out of my head.

He was gone.

_'Cause you've got me so strung out  
When you leave and come around  
Yeah  
How am I supposed to breath  
The more I live its killing me_

It was one thing to sacrifice myself for Luke and Annabeth – at the time, there was no better way for me to have fallen. Dying in the place of my two friends was how I wanted to go.

Now, I wish I could have just saved Annabeth.

Anything to have avoided this.

The moment I saw Atlas and Luke, my heart shattered. Annabeth, looking as broken as I'd ever seen her, even when she was seven, bound and gagged with a sword at her throat.

It was as if my own baby sister was sentenced to death.

_And now I'll be glad to see  
Every time you leave_

This is the last time  
This is the last fight

I wouldn't fight Luke again. I knew it. This would be the last time his sword would hit my shield. But he kept wanting me to join his cause.

"Thalia," he said, pleading with his eyes, "You can still join us. Call the Ophiotaurus. It will come to you. Look!"

A pool of water appeared, but I couldn't think about Bessie – but Luke wasn't having any of it. "Thalia, call the Ophiotaurus, and you will be more powerful than the gods."

I could barely look at him – the sheer desperation, the pain, the loss painted on his formerly handsome face hit me like a baseball bat to the stomach.

Who was Luke anymore?

"Luke…" I choked out, feeling as if the name I once held so dear was being ripped from within, "What happened to you?"

"Don't you remember all those times we talked? All those times we cursed the gods? Our fathers have done nothing for us. They have no right to rule the world!" Luke's tone reminded me of how he was when Annabeth, he and I were on the run – angry, hurt, but first and foremost abandoned. He felt alone. And he decided this was the way to fix it?

I shook my head. If anything, I had thought, he'd remember the relationship, the family we had – but I was wrong. There was Annabeth, fear in her eyes, tied up, just standing there. "Free Annabeth. Let her go."

"If you join me it can be like old times. The three of us together. Fighting for a better world. Please, Thalia," it felt like I was being kicked when he said my name, "If you don't agree…It's my last chance. He will use the other way if you don't agree. Please." His eyes bored into mine, and I forced myself to look away.

Luke continued to try and persuade me – I didn't want him to die, but I didn't want to destroy all in the process of saving him.

Finally, I said, "You aren't Luke. I don't know you anymore."

_Sunsets to sunrise  
This is my goodbye  
From morning till midnight  
With or without you  
This is my goodbye._

When Percy shouted "now," I knew exactly where I was headed: Luke.

I expected his skill with a sword – I had helped him develop it.

I angled the battle away from Annabeth, whose grey eyes were stricken with fear. I couldn't help her right then.

I was too busy trying to prevent that horrid blade from slicing me.

Lightning began to spark around us.

"See, Luke," I whispered so only he could hear, "I have the powers of my father – he had to leave us alone, let us fight for ourselves. It made us stronger. And you think you have it bad," I slammed him in the face with my shield and caught his sword with mine, spinning it away, but he managed to hold on to it, "I am not supposed to be alive, yet I still fight," I spun and delivered a blow that he caught on the edge of his blade, "You have more, your father loves you, yet you've given in."

"He never loved me!" shouted Luke, surprising me by letting a tear build in his eye. He struck against me with Backbiter, but Aegis pushed it away. "If my father ever loved me, he would have helped me!"

I swung my spear around, having the perfect opportunity to jab him, but for a moment the little fourteen year old Luke flashed before my eyes. I was momentarily paralyzed.

_You were trouble since the day we met  
I can see that now_

Half of me wishes I'd never met him, wishes that I could have avoided this pain.

The flash in his eye each time he would curse the gods, I should have seen something coming. I was too blinded by the exhilaration of running from everything that I must have missed how crazy he had gotten. How obsessed with revenge.

I didn't know if this was a new Luke or the same as before, but he wasn't the Luke I thought I knew.

A startling glint of metal and I saw Backbiter begin to bear down on me – Luke was taking advantage of my momentary hesitation.

I managed to raise Aegis before Luke struck.

_I take back everything I said  
Everything 'till now_

Now I regretted every time I told him we were a family. Each time I told him he was my best friend I wish was a lie. It killed me that I could never hurt him the way he has hurt me – this betrayal is something he will never feel.

I should never have called him my Luke.

I should never have let him get this bad.

"I take back every single thing I said to you Luke, until today. We'll never be a family."

_'Cause you've got me so strung out  
When you leave and come around  
Yeah  
How am I supposed to breath  
The more I live is killing me_

"Yield!" I shouted, agony wrenching through my body. I wouldn't be able to kill Luke – my only chance was that he would give up before I had to even think of it. Maybe Aegis, which he was plainly afraid of, would make him give up. "You could never beat me, Luke."

"We'll see, old friend," he said with a look that would have been intimidating had I not seen him cry like a baby once when the bus we were in hit a chipmunk.

_And now I'll be glad to see  
Every time you leave_

The memory shot through me like a dart – pain that led me to fight harder, better, faster, stronger. I managed to twist around Backbiter, pushing it off with Aegis, and slash Luke full across the chest with my spear.

The act hurt like it was me who received the blow. From the corner of my eye, I saw a fight go on between Atlas, Zoe and Artemis, but I didn't have the time to dwell on it.

Luke's expression was one of surprise and pain. "Thalia…"

"What?" I said, with a mirthless laugh, "Did you expect me to take it easy on you?"

"No," he said, "But I had hoped."

_This is the last time  
This is the last fight  
Sunset to sunrise  
This is my goodbye  
From morning 'till midnight  
With or without you  
This is my goodbye._

I forced Luke to the edge of the cliff, and from the corner of my eye I saw Atlas slam into Percy. The duel continued violently, with me trying to destroy him without killing him.

It wasn't the easiest endeavor.

_I'm writing you out,  
I'm crossing my T's_

If I was going to do this, I was going to do it all the way. Luke lunged towards me –expecting that kind of rash act from Luke's desperation, I slammed him with my shield. His sword spun away, leaving him defenseless.

Before I knew it, I instinctively pressed my spear to his throat. I was almost nose to nose with him.

A moment passed. I could tell Luke and I were thinking of the last time the two of us were this close.

The day before Luke and Annabeth made it to camp. The day before I became a tree.

He was the first boy I'd ever kissed.

And for a moment, he was that boy again.

I saw the fear in his eyes, but none of the shy and sheepish, even boyish, happiness that was there the day we kissed.

Again I had to remind myself – he was no longer my Luke.

"Well?" Luke asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. Fear coursed through him – I could feel it almost as I could feel lightning building in my body.

He couldn't say that. Well? WELL? He should be on his knees, begging for forgiveness! I could kill him if I wanted to.

But he just asks a stupid question.

"Don't kill him!" came the voice that I'd come to care for more than anything.

For once, I couldn't agree with Annabeth.

_And I want back the necklace that you said you did keep  
You miscomprehend_

From the look on Luke's face, he couldn't understand either. But he maintained his composure. "He's a traitor!" I screamed, fighting back what I wanted to tell him. I wanted to ask him to change his mind, to come back, to –

To love me again. The thought sent another wave of pain through me. "A traitor!"

I could sense Annabeth standing close behind me.

"We'll bring Luke back," Annabeth's voice sounded as full of pain as I'd ever heard it, "To Olympus. He'll…He'll be useful." I wanted to turn around, comfort Annabeth, give her a hug, tell her it would all be alright.

But it wouldn't be anymore.

Luke, with more gall than he should have with a spear at his throat, sneered and said, "Is that what you want, Thalia?" I forced myself not to wince as he said my name, "To go back to Olympus in triumph? To please your dad?" The words would have been bad enough without the painful sarcasm and mocking tone.

I hesitated for a moment – I shouldn't have. I should have taken him out, pinned him to the ground, something.

Instead, for a moment, I worried he was right.

_I've sworn you to dead  
And my words are as strong as my last gasp for breath.  
_

In the split second, he grabbed for my spear, and I instinctively kicked him – hard.

"No!" shouted Annabeth behind me.

The next few moments were almost in slow motion. He took a step backward, lost his balance, and began to tumble to the bottom of the cliff.

_This is the last time  
This is the last fight  
Sunset to sunrise  
This is my goodbye  
From morning 'till midnight  
With or without you  
This is my goodbye.  
_

Seconds later, it sunk in.

"Luke!" screamed Annabeth.

I'd killed him.

I knew I shouldn't care.

But it made my heart crack in two – he was gone.

_Goodbye_

**A/N2: …Sorry about the Daft Punk reference hehe.**

**I hoped you liked it, and if you did, let me know!**

**Thank you for reading!**


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